Celltech acquisition sends mixed messages

BDNF sends mixed signals

A small toxin from a cyanobacterium pushes growth-promoting proteins such as the EGF receptor (EGFR) along an unusual path to destruction, report Shen et al. Several oncogenic proteins, including EGFR, p53, and cyclin-dependent kinases are collectively known as Hsp90 client proteins due to their reliance on the Hsp90 chaperone for maintaining their conformation and stability. Hsp90 inhibitors a...

A Hormone Sends Instant Messages to the Genome

Bridging a gap between transcriptomics and the study of cis-acting elements (cistromics), Hah et al. (2011) apply a next-generation sequencing technique to gain an unprecedented view of the changes in RNA synthesis that occur following estrogen receptor activation in human breast cancer cells.

Wnt sends mixed signals in the skin

Paraspeckles may provide stress relief T he enigmatic nuclear structures known as paraspeckles may only be necessary during times of stress, Nakagawa et al. report. Discovered in 2002, paraspeckles stick close to the larger and betterknown splicing speckles that help edit mRNA. Paraspeckles harbor RNA and protein, but researchers aren’t sure what they do. To help pin down their function, Nakaga...

Mixed messages

Mixed messages

plants are cloaked in hundreds of tiny projections, known as trichomes. These structures vary in function, shape, size and spacing from species to species, and it’s not known whether similar cellular differentiation programs are responsible for making trichomes in different plants. Trichomes are clearly visible in the scanning electron micrograph of a wild-type Nicotiana tabacum seedling above ...